CN1324435C - Multi-tasking computer peripheral device online switching interface - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention is a multi-task computer peripheral device on-line switching interface, applied to a computer system with a plurality of independent processing modules, such as a blade server, and a plurality of independent service modules in the blade server can share the same group of external peripheral devices; the interface at least comprises: the system comprises a plurality of switching modules, a plurality of switching control modules, a management and control module, a peripheral signal converging module and a converting module; the invention is characterized in that the BMC type management controller in the original blade server is adopted to control the online switching action between each independent service module and each peripheral device, and the interface of the invention does not need to adopt a keyboard/screen/mouse switcher with expensive cost or use an additional control circuit, thereby realizing the online switching function of the blade server for providing the multitask type peripheral device with lower hardware cost.

Description

Multi-tasking computer peripheral device online switching interface

technical field

The present invention relates to a computer peripheral technology, in particular to a multitasking computer peripheral device online switching interface, which can be applied to a computer system with multiple independent processing modules, such as a blade server (blade server), so that the blade A plurality of independent service modules in the server can share a group of external peripheral devices through multitasking switching, such as keyboard, mouse, screen unit and plug-and-play data storage device (such as flash memory).

Background technique

A blade server is a network server of a clustering type, which is characterized in that it uses the same circuit frame to integrate two or more modular server units (hereinafter referred to as "service modules"). ), these service modules are used to provide the same service function in a cluster mode, that is, network users can use the service function provided by the blade server as long as they connect to any one of these service modules. In practice, each service module in the blade server is made into a blade-shaped circuit board, so that network managers can easily integrate it into the circuit frame at any time by plugging and mating to increase user capacity. Specifically, the blade server is usually provided with a shared management controller for managing and controlling all service modules and their shared facilities in the blade server.

In addition, a general personal computer (PC) is equipped with dedicated input and output devices, including, for example, a keyboard, a display screen and a mouse. Users can operate application programs and necessary system management tasks through these I/O devices. However, in the application of blade servers, since the input and output devices are only used when the system is preset, they are not needed when performing service work. Therefore, in order to save equipment costs and room space, the personal computer hosts generally used as servers are not used. Equipped with input and output devices. In addition, in practical applications, blade servers often need to be connected to external data storage devices, such as USB (Universal Serial Bus) flash memory, so as to load new data to the blade server, or copy data in the blade server to the external data storage device.

However, when it is necessary to perform some necessary system management work on the server, for example, when the server is down, since the maintenance work must be carried out by keyboard, display screen and mouse, the system management of the server without input and output devices Work becomes a problem.

A solution to the above problems is to use a so-called Keyboard/Video/Mouse Switch (KVM) to connect the blade server to the keyboard, screen and mouse in a co-connected manner. In addition, the keyboard/screen/mouse switcher can also be used as a switching device between the VGA video peripheral processing unit and the USB peripheral processing unit, and the external screen device and USB flash memory. However, a disadvantage of using a keyboard/screen/mouse switcher as a VGA/USB switching device is that additional control signals need to be added, so it is necessary to increase the pins on the keyboard/screen/mouse switcher chip, which will increase the hardware cost. complexity and cost.

Another solution to the above-mentioned problem is to adopt a special chip to convert the VGA signal into a serial form, and install a special chip in each service module in the blade server. However, a disadvantage of this approach is that the manufacturing cost of this special chip is quite high, and additional control signals need to be added, thus increasing the complexity and cost of the hardware device.

Contents of the invention

In order to overcome the above-mentioned shortcomings of the prior art, the main purpose of the present invention is to provide a multi-tasking computer peripheral device online switching interface, allowing multiple service modules in the blade server to share a group of external peripheral devices, but without the need to purchase Expensive KVM keyboard/screen/mouse switches.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a multi-tasking computer peripheral device on-line switching interface, allowing multiple service modules in a blade server to share a set of external peripheral devices without adding additional control signals.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a multi-tasking computer peripheral device online switching interface, which allows multiple service modules in the blade server to share a set of external Peripherals.

The multi-tasking computer peripheral device online switching interface of the present invention is applied to a computer system with multiple independent processing modules, such as a blade server (blade server), allowing multiple independent service modules in the blade server to pass through multiple The task switching method shares the same set of external peripheral devices, including, for example, a keyboard, a mouse, a screen unit, and a plug-and-play data storage device (such as a flash memory).

The multi-tasking computer peripheral device online switching interface of the present invention at least includes: a plurality of switching modules, wherein each switching module is coupled to each processing module in the computer system, and is used to selectively connect to each processing module by switching a video processing unit and a peripheral processing unit; a plurality of switching control modules, wherein each switching control module is coupled to each switching module, and is used to respectively control the switching action performed by each switching module on the video processing unit and the peripheral processing unit The management and control module is connected to each switching control module through a specific management and control interface, so that each switching control module can control the switching action of each switching module on the video processing unit and the peripheral processing unit through the management and control interface; peripheral signals The remittance module has a first connection end and a second connection end, wherein the first connection end is used to connect to each switch module, and is connected to each peripheral processing unit through each switch module, and the second connection end is used to connect respectively To the conversion module and the external data storage device in the peripheral device of the first group; and the conversion module is used to transfer the signal sent by the peripheral device of the second group to the peripheral signal transfer module through conversion, so as to first Connect to each peripheral processing unit through the peripheral signal transfer module and then through each switching module.

The feature of the multi-tasking computer peripheral device online switching interface of the present invention is that the management controller of the BMC (Baseboard Management Controller) in the original blade server is used to control the connection between each independent service module and each peripheral device. The switching action enables all peripheral devices to connect to each independent service module in the blade server through the online switching interface of the multi-tasking computer peripheral device of the present invention. This feature allows multiple independent service modules in the blade server to share the same set of external peripheral devices, but does not require expensive keyboard/screen/mouse switches or use additional control lines, so at a lower hardware cost , realizing the online switching function of multi-tasking peripheral devices for the blade server.

Description of drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of the application structure, showing the application structure of the multi-tasking computer peripheral device online switching interface of the present invention matched to the blade server; and

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the system structure, showing the basic system structure of the online switching interface of the multi-tasking computer peripheral device of the present invention.

Detailed ways

Example

The following describes in detail the embodiment of the online switching interface of the multitasking computer peripheral device of the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 shows the application structure of the online switching interface 100 of the multitasking computer peripheral device of the present invention. As shown in the figure, the multitasking computer peripheral device online switching interface 100 of the present invention is practically matched to a computer system with multiple independent processing modules, such as a blade server 10, and the blade server 10 has multiple Independent service modules 20 (Fig. 1 only representatively shows 3 service modules, but the number of the service modules is not limited), each service module 20 is then configured with at least one video processing unit 21 and a peripheral processing unit 22, Wherein the video processing unit 21 is, for example, a VGA (Video Graphics Array) video processing unit, and the peripheral processing unit 22 is, for example, a USB (Universal Serial Bus) peripheral processing unit, so that multiple services in the blade server 10 The modules 20 can share the same set of external peripheral devices, including, for example, a screen device 31 , a USB-type external data storage device 32 , a keyboard 41 and a mouse 42 .

As shown in Figure 2, the basic system structure of the online switching interface 100 of the multitasking computer peripheral device of the present invention at least includes: (a) a plurality of switching modules 110; (b) a plurality of switching control modules 120; (c) a control module 130 ; (d) peripheral signal transfer module 140 ; and (e) conversion module 150 .

Each switch module 110 is, for example, an analog switch device (analog switch), which is respectively coupled to the internal circuit structure of each service module 20 in the blade server 10, and is respectively controlled by the associated switch control module 120, and each service module 20 The VGA video processing unit 21 or the USB peripheral processing unit 22 in the device is selectively connected to the peripheral signal transfer module 140 or the external screen device 31 through switching.

Each switching control module 120 is, for example, a functional unit in a BMC (Baseboard Management Controller) management controller, which is respectively coupled to the above-mentioned switching modules 110, and which can be controlled by the same management and control module 130 through the management and control interface 131 respectively. It controls the VGA/USB switching action performed by each switching module 110 .

The management and control module 130 is, for example, the management controller of the BMC (Baseboard Management Controller), which is connected to each switching control module 120 through a specific management and control interface 131, such as an IPMB (Intelligent Platform Management Bus) type of management and control interface, so as to pass through the management and control interface 131 Each switch control module 120 controls each switch module 110 to switch between the VGA video processing unit 21 and the USB peripheral processing unit 22 . Since the IPMB is a standard specification commonly used and well known in the computer information industry, it will not be further described in this specification.

The peripheral signal transfer module 140 is, for example, a USB signal transfer module (USB Hub), which has a first connection end 141 and a second connection end 142, wherein the first connection end 141 is used to connect to each switching module 110, through each The switching module 110 is connected to each USB peripheral processing unit 22; the second connection terminal 142 is used to connect to the conversion module 150 and the USB-type external data storage device 32 in the peripheral devices of the first group respectively, wherein the first The peripheral devices of the group include screen devices and external data storage devices.

The conversion module 150 is internally connected to the peripheral signal transfer module 140, and externally coupled to the second group of peripheral devices in a common connection manner, such as including a keyboard 41 and a mouse 42, for the keyboard 41 and the mouse 42 The sent signal is converted into a signal format accepted by the USB peripheral processing unit 22 (in this embodiment, the USB signal format). It is first connected to each USB peripheral processing unit 22 through the peripheral signal transfer module 140 and then through each switching module 110, so that the user can input data and instructions to the online service module 20 through the keyboard 41 and mouse 42 .

In practical application, the user (i.e., the network system administrator) can use the multi-tasking computer peripheral device of the present invention to switch the interface 100 online, so that multiple service modules 20 in the blade server 10 can share the same group of external peripheral devices. For example, it includes a screen device 31 , an external data storage device 32 , a keyboard 41 and a mouse 42 .

Please refer to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 at the same time. When the screen device 31 is used, the BMC management and control module 130 will immediately pass the IPMB management and control interface 131 to make the relevant switching control module 120 switch the switching module 110 it belongs to to connect to the relevant service module. The VGA video processing unit 21 in 20 allows the VGA video processing unit 21 to be directly connected to the external screen device 31 through the switch module 110, so as to display the VGA video signal it sends on the external screen device 31.

When the USB external data storage device 32 is used, the BMC management and control module 130 will pass the IPMB management and control interface 131 to make the relevant switching control module 120 switch the switching module 110 it belongs to to be connected to the USB peripheral processing in the relevant service module 20 Unit 22, so that the USB peripheral processing unit 22 can be connected to the external data storage device 32 through the switching module 110 and the peripheral signal transfer module 140 in turn, so that the relevant service module 20 can connect to the external data storage device 32 Perform data access operations.

When using the keyboard 41, the BMC management and control module 130 will promptly pass through the IPMB management and control interface 131, so that the relevant switching control module 120 switches the switching module 110 it belongs to to be connected to the USB peripheral processing unit 22 in the relevant service module 20, so that The keyboard 41 can transmit the keyboard signal sent by it to the relevant service module 20 in the blade server 10 through the conversion module 150, the peripheral signal transfer module 140 and the switching module 110, thereby inputting data or instructions to the relevant Service module 20.

When using the mouse 42, the BMC management and control module 130 will promptly pass through the IPMB management and control interface 131, so that the relevant switching control module 120 switches the switching module 110 it belongs to to be connected to the USB peripheral processing unit 22 in the relevant service module 20, so that The mouse 42 can transmit the cursor control signal sent by it to the relevant service module 20 in the blade server 10 through the conversion module 150, the peripheral signal transfer module 140 and the switching module 110, thereby inputting the cursor control command to the relevant The service module 20.

In a word, the present invention provides a novel multitasking computer peripheral device online switching interface, which can be applied to computer systems with multiple independent processing modules, such as blade servers, allowing multiple independent services in the blade servers to The modules can share the same group of external peripheral devices; and its characteristic is that the management controller of BMC (Baseboard Management Controller) in the original blade server is used to control the online switching between each independent service module and each peripheral device action, so that all peripheral devices can be connected to each independent service module in the blade server through the online switching interface of the multi-task computer peripheral device of the present invention. This feature allows multiple independent service modules in the blade server to share the same set of external peripheral devices, without the need to use expensive keyboard/screen/mouse switches or use additional control lines as in the prior art, so in When the blade server is implemented to provide the multi-task online switching function of peripheral devices, it can be realized with lower hardware cost. Therefore, the present invention has better progress and practicality than the prior art.

Claims (8)

1. A multitasking computer peripheral device online switching interface, which is matched to a computer system, and the computer system has a plurality of independent processing modules, and each processing module is equipped with at least one video processing unit and a peripheral processing unit, so that A plurality of processing modules in the computer system share the peripheral devices of the first group and the second group; it is characterized in that the online switching interface of the multitasking computer peripheral devices at least includes: A plurality of switching modules, wherein each switching module is coupled to a corresponding processing module in the computer system, and is used to selectively connect the video processing unit and the peripheral processing unit in each processing module by switching, and the video processing unit a screen device connected to the first group of peripheral devices through the switching module; A plurality of switching control modules, wherein each switching control module is coupled to each switching module, and is used to respectively control the switching action performed by each switching module on the video processing unit and the peripheral processing unit; The management and control module is connected to each switching control module through a specific management and control interface, so that through the management and control interface, each switching control module controls the switching action performed by each switching module on the video processing unit and the peripheral processing unit; The peripheral signal transfer module has a first connection end and a second connection end, wherein the first connection end is used to connect to each switching module, and is connected to each peripheral processing unit through each switching module, and the second connection end is used for An external data storage device connected to the conversion module and the first group of peripheral devices respectively; and The conversion module is used to convert the signals sent by the peripheral devices of the second group and transmit them to the peripheral signal transfer module, so as to connect to each peripheral processing through the peripheral signal transfer module and then through each switching module unit. 2. The multi-tasking computer peripheral device online switching interface according to claim 1, wherein the computer system is a blade server. 3. The multi-tasking computer peripheral device online switching interface according to claim 1, wherein each switching module is an analog switching device. 4. The multi-tasking computer peripheral device online switching interface according to claim 1, characterized in that the management and control module is a BMC-type management controller. 5. The multi-tasking computer peripheral device online switching interface according to claim 1, characterized in that the switching control module is a functional unit in the BMC type management controller. 6. The multi-task computer peripheral device online switching interface according to claim 1, characterized in that the management and control interface is an IPMB type management and control interface. 7. The multi-tasking computer peripheral device online switching interface according to claim 1, wherein the video processing unit is a VGA type video processing unit, and the peripheral processing unit is a USB type peripheral processing unit. 8. The online switching interface for multitasking computer peripheral devices according to claim 1, wherein the peripheral devices of the first group include screen devices and external data storage devices, and the peripheral devices of the second group are Includes keyboard and mouse.

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